We Have Some News!

Some of you may have come to this blog for our big reveal from our Facebook pages. Some of you may have just stumbled upon it. Regardless of how you got here, we have an announcement.
We are headed to a dream location very soon to celebrate a huge milestone for Pierson.
He will be running in his very first race! He will also be carrying his first Team Beads of Courage bead. Pierson is a cardiac Beads of Courage Member. I'm not sure of how many Beads of Courage members ever get to be bead carriers due to the complexities of the illnesses these kids face but he is one of them!
I started running last summer with a dear, blessing to my heart, friend of mine as a way to honor kids who suffer from congenital heart disease, deal with stress and maintain my own health. My legs are strong, my heart unbroken. I should run for those kids who would love nothing more to run but can't because their hearts are broken and bodies riddled with disease.
I ran my first race for a CHD child in November, then one in December. The little girl I ran for in December passed away a few weeks later on Christmas day. After her funeral it dawned on me that I should really become a Team Beads of Courage Member. I figured I had this perfectly healthy body, why couldn't I use it to help others? Pierson is a Beads of Courage cardiac member and his beads tell an incredible story. Some are treatment beads and some mark milestones or special events. Pierson and his child life specialist Margarita received very special Team Beads of Courage beads carried in the 2012 Summer Olympics this year. Pierson and I talked about what I was doing and how I was carrying a bead like the Olympic athlete that carried his bead and he liked it and began asking to go on runs with me, so I started taking him on some short runs.

We have recently had a much more clear picture of what all Pierson's body has been through and the toll that congenital heart disease has taken. According to his medical charts his right brain stroke has left him with left side hemiplegia, or paralysis. He has made so much progress through intense therapy that it's hard to tell anymore when someone first meets him, but he still has a really hard time with gross motor skills and his fine motor skills are very far behind. He is stronger than ever physically and his heart is looking as good as a mended heart can be right now. Our main struggle is still recovering from his stroke. We recently got our first "He may never..." statement from a medical professional. It was like swallowing a horse pill dry.

The beads Pierson and I will carry for children who are Beads of Courage members facing chronic and life threatening illnes.

All that to say, Pierson running has become a great benefit to him in recovering. It keeps his heart strong and it helps him recover from the stroke. Pierson's cardiologist encourages us to keep him active. We recently saw a girl in her 20's who has hypoplastic left heart sydrome complete a 15k. Unbelievable! The race that Pierson is participating in is... wait for it... an obstacle course race. Yep, our half paralysed heart-kiddo is doing an obstacle course race.
We have no doubt he can do it and do it well. Honestly, these aren't the biggest obstacles he's had to overcome in his life. So take that congenital heart disease and stroke! P's showing you who's boss for a change and helping other kids at the same time!
My best friend from childhood and I will also carry beads and run in the adult version of the same race later that day. She is precious to my heart and she and her husband have been so supportive of Pierson's fight and an encouragement to our family. I can't think of anyone else I would rather enter this insane race with than this girl. I'm putting my competitive "must win" nature away for this race and focusing on making memories and taking these beads on an adventure that these kids can picture in their heads -- an adventure without ever leaving their hospital beds. We expect that we will burn more calories than some of the other racers because laughing burns calories and we just can't help ourselves when we're together.
Please join us in praying over this adventure. Pray for health and safety for us.  Pray for endurance for us. Pray for healing and for the Lord to sustain the kids like Pierson who will receive these beads. Pray that we honor the Lord in our races. I will update the blog with complete pictures and details of the race when we get back from our race. We are still weeks out but I feel like it will be here before we know it!
I wanted to leave you with a little video clip. It's from the Disney movie "Meet the Robinsons". Basically the whole movie is about not letting your past slow you down, but instead building on it and letting it make you stronger so you can do great things. I don't know if it's the main character's spikey blonde hair that remind me of P or just thinking about how our brave-hearted little boy hasn't let anything slow him down and continually is moving forward or what but the end of this movie always gets me. And I love the quote from the great Walt Disney at the end. What a way to celebrate keeping moving forward than running forward. So proud of our little guy. So so so thankful that we are able to keep moving forward with him and honored to help other kids at the same time.

“Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” -- Walt Disney